Commentary Category
Getting to Know Coursera: Who is everyone?
Feb. 20, 2013—by Katie McEwen, graduate assistant In our blog posts up to now, we’ve taken a descriptive approach to look at what Coursera does and how they do it. Today, we’re going to turn our attention to a different aspect of the Coursera platform that, I would argue, is no less important: the question of access...
Ask Professor Pedagogy: First time teaching a 200+ Student Survey Course
Feb. 1, 2013—Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you’d like...
Ask Professor Pedagogy: Teaching to an academically diverse group
Jan. 25, 2013—Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you’d like...
Getting to Know Coursera: Statements of Accomplishment
Jan. 21, 2013—by Katie McEwen, graduate assistant After getting started with our discussion of assessments in Coursera in our last two posts, today we’ll turn or attention to the end point of grading and evaluation: statements of accomplishment. Sometimes also called “certificates,” these statements present something of a question for all involved. What, exactly, is Coursera certifying...
Ask Professor Pedagogy: Finding Teaching Opportunities
Jan. 11, 2013—Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you’d like...
Getting to Know Coursera: Peer Assessments
Jan. 7, 2013—by Katie McEwen, graduate assistant After getting started talking about assessment methods in Coursera, in general, today we’ll turn our attention to peer assessments, in particular. Peer assessments are designed to evaluate the kinds of unstructured output—essays, projects, videos, music, art, design challenges, etc.—a student might reasonably be required to complete in a traditional course....
Ask Professor Pedagogy: Geocaching in the Community
Dec. 28, 2012—Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you’d like...
Ask Professor Pedagogy: Crickets, Crickets
Dec. 14, 2012—Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you’d like...
Ask Professor Pedagogy: A Mountain of Grading
Nov. 30, 2012—Ask Professor Pedagogy is a twice monthly advice column written by Center for Teaching staff. One aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from Vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. If you have a question that you’d like...
Getting to Know Coursera: Assessments
Nov. 26, 2012—by Katie McEwen, graduate assistant So far in our discussion of common features in Coursera, we’ve focused on two methods of presenting content online: video lectures and video discussions. Certainly, students (whether online or in the traditional classroom) benefit from coherent, clearly sequenced, thoughtful and thought-provoking discussions and lectures. But, just as certainly, assessing comprehension,...